1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to a method and apparatus for alerting one or more recipients that a threat was transmitted along with previously communicated data, such as a message.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a typical computer system, there are many potential threats (e.g., malicious software code or malware (e.g., viruses, worms, Trojans and the like), spyware, PHISH, SPAM and/or the like) to one or more computers. A potential threat may be a network-based threat that is distributed throughout the typical computer system. For example, the network-based threat may comprise malware that is designed to propagate through a computer network using numerous techniques, such as attaching to outbound data, such as outbound message data (e.g., emails, instant messages and the like), hiding in a process that uses network resources in order to be distributed among other computers in communication with the infected computer, opening a socket and moving to another computer, and/or otherwise hijacking a component of the infected computer. A network-based threat may be a virus, PHISH or SPAM that is communicated to a recipient via email or instant messaging software applications.
When a threat is detected at a particular computer, one or more security software programs perform various tasks to identify and mitigate the network-based threat. For example, such security programs may be configured to quarantine the network-based threat from critical areas of memory on the infected computer and/or remove the threat altogether. Security programs may also notify a user of the infected computer and/or a security service (e.g., online security subscription) as to the detection of the network-based threat. In addition, the security programs may halt or terminate processes that require a connection with a network (e.g., the Internet), such as a browser window, messaging software, an email client application, a file-sharing program, and the like. Accordingly, the user is prevented from exchanging data such as instant messages, files, and/or email with other computers.
Such security programs, however, do not notify a recipient computing device that it has received a network-based threat transmitted via an email or instant message from another computer. The recipient is therefore most likely unaware of the arrival and/or presence of the network-based threat. As a result, the network-based threat may be causing harm to the recipient computer or may be lying dormant in preparation of an attack on the recipient. Unfortunately, the recipient experiences a significant amount of disruption in productivity and/or damage to the recipient computer during the time period before the network-based threat is detected and/or removed.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a method and apparatus for notifying a computer data recipient that a threat was previously communicated to the recipient.